Knowledge Base

Biofertilizer

Liquid fertilizer · Soil Land Food

Manure, basalt, wood ash and yeast fermented under an airlock into bioactivated minerals — a customisable liquid fertiliser you can blend to your soil test.

All stagesSoil
Moderate to make
56 days ferment
1:10–1:200 dilution
minerals, nitrogen, potassium supplied
＋ Start a batch from this recipe

Dilution calculator

Dilution 1:10–1:200

Enter a water volume to see how much to add.

Ingredients

  • Fresh cow manure (or LAB Serum in place of some/all)8 gal (50-gal barrel)
  • Basalt powder3 pounds
  • Wood ashes5 pounds
  • Yeast10 ounces
  • Molasses2 quarts
  • Milk / whey2 quarts
  • Clean non-chlorinated water37 gal + 10 quarts
  • Seaweed meal & rock phosphate (optional)2 pounds each

How to make it

  1. Step 1

    Add fresh, clean cow manure to the barrel (or use LAB Serum instead if you have no manure).

  2. Step 2

    Mix in the dry ingredients — basalt powder, wood ashes and yeast (plus seaweed meal and rock phosphate if using).

  3. Step 3

    Carefully add about 90% of the water.

  4. Step 4

    Mix milk and molasses with the last ~10% of water, then stir that through the ferment.

  5. Step 5

    Leave 5–10 inches headspace for gases and fit the fermentation lock (airlock).

  6. Step 6

    Ferment somewhere warm and undisturbed for at least 8 weeks.

  7. Step 7

    Filter before use; done when mild-smelling and mid-to-dark brown.

What it is

A biofertilizer is a bioferment that delivers bioactivated minerals to soils and plants. This simple recipe pairs an inoculant (cow manure or LAB Serum) with mineral sources — basalt, wood ash, optional seaweed and rock phosphate — plus yeast and a molasses/milk energy feed, then ferments it sealed under an airlock. The living ferment chelates the minerals so plants can actually take them up.

On the Nutritive Cycle: Biofertilizer is an all-stages, soil input. It's a mineral backbone — feed it to condition soil and cover trace-element needs across every growth phase.

When to use it

  • Soil or foliar — a broad mineral and microbial feed at any stage.
  • Rate — 5–10 pints per acre, diluted 1:10 to 1:200. Use more water for sensitive crops.
  • Timing — foliar sprays early morning or late afternoon.
  • Guide with tests — apply against soil tests, tissue tests, or visual crop assessment. Trace elements are easy to overdo — excess causes toxicity.

Materials

Base 50-gallon barrel batch (scales to a 260-gal IBC):

  • Cow manure — 8 gal (or half manure / half LAB Serum, or 100% LAB Serum)
  • Basalt powder — 3 lb (no basalt? use seaweed meal + wood ashes)
  • Wood ashes — 5 lb
  • Yeast — 10 oz
  • Molasses — 2 quarts; Milk / whey — 2 quarts
  • Water — 37 gal + 10 quarts
  • Optional: seaweed meal 2 lb, rock phosphate 2 lb
  • Barrel or IBC with a fermentation lock

How to make it

  1. Manure in (or LAB Serum). 2. Dry ingredients — basalt, wood ash, yeast (+ optional seaweed/phosphate). 3. 90% of the water. 4. Molasses + milk blended with the last 10% of water, stirred through. 5. Airlock on, 5–10 in headspace. 6. Ferment ≥ 8 weeks, warm and undisturbed. Filter before use.

Custom mineral blend: make the basic recipe, leave it 5 days, then add your custom minerals (e.g. magnesium sulphate, calcium carbonate, potassium sulphate — see mineral table), plus 1–2 quarts milk/whey/LAB Serum and 1–2 quarts molasses. Dissolve trace elements in a little warm water first. Reseal and let fermentation finish.

Signs it worked / troubleshooting

  • ✅ Good: mild smell, mid-to-dark brown.
  • ⚠️ Still smelling raw = not finished → reseal and give it more time.
  • 🚫 Black and/or purple/green colour with a strong smell = putrefied → do not use, discard.

How to store

Shaded, cool place with the lid sealed. Keeps 12 months or more. After long storage, check pH, colour and odour before using.

Related

LABSHydrolysateSPICE Compost InoculantMineral-enriched Bio-fermentsSWMaster Cho's Nutritive Cycle